# tiny tiny bugs on cigars?



## andrewm (Apr 29, 2008)

Was checking out my humidor today and I noticed on a dark maduro the smallest little white dots moving around on that cigar. I freaked because never having any beetle experiences I thought that's what it might be but after doing some research online i think they were too small to be larvae, they were just like little specks of dust that were moving. Some of my other sticks had them on them too i just brushed them all off. 

on top of that there are no holes in any of my cigars. in all there weren't a ton of these tiny things just one or two on about 5 sticks. 

Has anyone seen anything like this? any thoughts? Thanks for any info!


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## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

How small we talkin? Did they have legs? Wings? Whats the temp/RH in your humi?


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## OmBoost (Jun 9, 2008)

I'm experiencing the same thing in my humidor. Noticed it first time about a half year ago, did a new check yesterday. 
Got my flashlight and checked all my smokes (about 500-600), results about the same at last time, found about a total of ten to fifteen of those small white bugs, just brushed them off. 
Found no holes in the cigars and no brown or black dust, until I fired up a Gurkha later in the evening, when I noticed four or five small holes close to the head. Did not inspect the cigar when I received it last summer, so I don't know if the holes have been there all along...

During the winter my humidor has been steady at 60 degrees and 69% humidity.

I'm really puzzled at this and not sure if should freeze my whole stash or just let it be. 
Any info is much appreciated!


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## andrewm (Apr 29, 2008)

they were really small. so small i wouldn't have been able to see if they had wings or legs unless i had a very good magnifying glass. literally like little specks of dust moving around. 

my rh has never been above 70 since i've had my humidor (over a year) usually around 65. not sure what my temp is but it's pretty steady room temperature in the room where the humidor is. no sunlight etc. 

thanks for any help


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## Nickerson (Mar 19, 2009)

Might just be dust mites from around your house. Or could be from the tobacco plant or the shop. Hard to say.


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## Rev2010 (Sep 3, 2008)

Heh, when I first read this I was wondering if you were maybe misinterpreting the little white flecks that break off of humidity beads. But since they were moving that rules that out. That is some weeeiird stuff there! Beetle larvae are definitely bigger and more noticeable than that, I would think... unless of course that's what they look like after they first hatch? I also wouldn't think they'd hatch on the outer wrapper. I dunno. Scary nonetheless. Don't want to jinx myself but I've been running the same conditions for over a year, keeping the humidity at 65% on average and never higher than 70%. Room temperature is 68° most of the year with summer temps being a little higher at times. And so far I've been lucky. Hope it stays that way!


Rev.


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## tattoofreak (Nov 27, 2008)

MY guess would be mites they can be found around wood maybe a new box of cigars you got had a few on it.


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## karmaz00 (Dec 5, 2007)

i have seen theses before. not with mine but i heard there like mites...they only go after the bands, they wondt hurt your smokes.... very tiny, light white in color,sound like them


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## Nickerson (Mar 19, 2009)

Watch out, they are death mites! If you ingest one or smoke one you will die. Best send me your cigars to test out. 

Like they said, its some type of mite. Generally harmless. Don't think they will effect your cigars.

LMK if the image below doesn't show. Its a wood mite.


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## andrewm (Apr 29, 2008)

thanks for the input everyone, gonna keep an eye on my cigars but I don't think it's anything dire. likely dust mites or something like it.


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## Phantom57 (Jan 15, 2009)

They eat the glue on the bands, and joints of your humidor. Annoying, but relatively harmless.


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## Hermit (Aug 5, 2008)

If he's white, he's a mite.


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## fatweedesq (Nov 15, 2008)

Sounds like mites


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## fiddlegrin (Feb 8, 2009)

gak!


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## argi (May 10, 2009)

Helo sirs
I have the same problem
if I us a taperware and leave the cigars in fridge for 48 hours its a good idea?
or what toy sugsd as solution ?


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## 6clicks (May 1, 2008)

The smoke kills them.


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## argi (May 10, 2009)

finally these bugs are dangerous ?
for cigars and for our health ?


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## tx_tuff (Jun 16, 2007)

Sounds harmless, wow good thing!


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## stephen_bj (Feb 20, 2011)

I have the same problem, 5% of my boxes have them. I have a few questions though.

1. If I zip lock all boxes separately, would that stop it from spreading from one box to another?

2. I can freeze my stash (I have 150+ boxes so that might take some time.) But I've heard that, once you freeze a cigar, the cigar will '"die" meaning, it will lose its character and becomes very stale when smoked? Is this true?

3. Do I need to clean out all the cabinets the effected boxes' been, even though they were individually wrapped?

4. If untreated, will they simply die off or grow in numbers?

5. Other than freezing, are there any other way to kill them?


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## sligub (Apr 6, 2011)

stephen_bj said:


> I have the same problem, 5% of my boxes have them. I have a few questions though.
> 
> 1. If I zip lock all boxes separately, would that stop it from spreading from one box to another?
> 
> ...


Can't help with the other parts as I've never had these mites but freezing has never harmed any of the hundreds of sticks that have been in my freezer.


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## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

tons of established members here have frozen hundreds if not thousands of cigars with no affect to taste, burn, etc. (and many smoked the same blends for a while before starting to freeze them)

ive been freezing as well since i got a nasty shipment from cbid. never had or noticed an issue.. just that i don't have any beetles, mites, etc.


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## sengjc (Nov 15, 2010)

They may be wood lice.


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## stephen_bj (Feb 20, 2011)

I've checked all my boxes once and separated the effect cigars and boxes. Then I vacuum all the effected boxes. I've turned my cabinet temp down to 65F and I think the problem is under control. I think I am going to take everything out, check them one more time and vacuum and wipe the inside of my cabinet one more time just to make sure. 

One thing I found though, all my cab boxes were okay, and the boxes that were effected were from all different years. I mean I found them in my LSOM henry clays which was made probably in the mid 70's, my LE 2006, 2008, 2010 smokes. Also in my Mont 4 that was purchased recently. So this leads me to conclude that the mites actually got into the box after I place them in my cabinet. Since this cabinet was new and was shipped internationally, maybe some buggers got in on transit. Anyways, hopefully everything is under control and if anyone have experience with these little buggers would love to hear different ways to get rid of them and most important of, how to prevent this from happening again in the future, thanks.

:israel::israel::israel:


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## Colombian cigars (Mar 29, 2011)

I would also say they are some kind of mite. Although I haven't had the experience with mites and cigars I have had plenty of it with fruit fly cultures for the poison frog hobby I have been in and out of for over the last 17 years or so. Luckily the last ones I was dealing with weren't any harm at all, but for the people who have reptiles know what a nightmare certain mites can be. If anyone else should ever experience this maybe you should try getting those mite traps sold at local hardware stores. I would place them outside the humidor though, maybe on top.


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## gehrig97 (Aug 19, 2007)

These are mites. Had them in a humi for while... remove one of the bands and you may come upon a little mite party! Completely harmless to your cigars. Just brush them off before you smoke.


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